Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="orangefruitbat" data-source="post: 2925477" data-attributes="member: 3013">Because it's possible he has more than one concern, and also that Monte is under no obligation to discuss his inner business workings with everyone on some web forum.1) He has to worry about returns from the book trade that he doesn't have to from the hobby trade. Returns can kill a small publisher.2) He needs to keep his distrubtors happy. Monte seems concerned that hobby distributors/retailers are nervous about carrying a $120 book (that they can't return) if Amazon can sell it for $75. Now let's say that currently, 70% of Malhavoc's product is sold through traditional FLGS, 20% goes through Amazon and 10% is sold "direct" through the WW store (note that Monte isn't the seller here, WW is). If Monte sells through Amazon (he might get a better wholesale price, though I'm not sure), he takes the risk that hobby distributors won't carry his product, or will carry it in lower quanitites, leaving him with unsold product.Thus, ironically, he could potentially sell less copies by offering it at a lower price because Amazon will reach fewer gamers than RPG stores. Monte needs to keep his customers (the distributors) happy so that they purchase significant quanitites of his book and get them into FLGS. This problem affects other RPG products as well, but the high price of Ptolus makes it come to the fore here. This sales model is slowly changing, but it's still a reality today.Did you ever wonder why you can't go to Ford.com or Toyota.com and buy a car online? The auto companies would be happy to sell you one direct. But they would piss off their dealer networks (who typically are independently owned), who control sales. Most states and provinces also have laws against this to protect their dealer networks - because the dealers lobbied to protect themselves. Middlemen do provide a service, and they work hard to not be cut out of the loop. You'll note that the WW store doesn't undercut retailers by offering discounted prices (which their margins would support) simply because they need to keep the distributors and retailers happy.</blockquote>

Verification